Great Backyard Bird Count

I enjoyed my first GBBC, and even had a life bird and yard bird show up during my counting. The life bird was a sharp-shinned hawk, and the yard birds were pine siskins.

Two pine siskins and a goldfinch.


I also had several red-winged blackbirds.

These next pictures are from an earlier trip to Forest Park

A red-bellied woodpecker. Isn't it funny how many birds (at least the ones that I post about) have hyphens in their names?
A tufted titmouse that was eating some sort of seed. Good birding!

Woodpecker

This is an unidentified (presumably immature) woodpecker that was in my backyard in Michigan this summer. At least I assume it's a woodpecker. My best guess would be a juvenile yellow-bellied sapsucker. While its wing was spread out in an awkward fashion, it did not seem to be injured, and later flew off quite easily.

Any thoughts?

(I posted on the Michigan listserv about this, and it was confirmed to be a juvenile yellow-bellied sapsucker)

Coming Soon To A Blog Near You...

Saturday or Sunday I can promise you a new post full of information from my Great Backyard Bird Counting!

A Mixed Bag

In this post you will find some snow pictures from around my house, and some pictures from a trip to Forest Park. That trip netted me a new species: the field sparrow. Also seen were mallards, wood ducks, a juvenile red tailed hawk, song sparrows, american tree sparrows, starlings, white-throated sparrows, dark-eyed juncos, a carolina wren, and an american kestrel.

Various yard birds.

I made this fruit feeder myself. No birds have come to it yet, however.This juvenile cooper's hawk was (I think) eating a road-killed rabbit as I left my neighborhood to go to Forest Park.

A song sparrow in Forest Park.

Wood Ducks. It's hard to believe that they're a fairly common native bird.

American Kestrel.
A juvenile red-tailed hawk.

There were lots of bird's nests visible around the park.

I may be going on an Audubon field trip to Riverlands this weekend, so keep checking back!